Mica for cartelinsider.com
“Organized crime is behind every step taken by any political figure.” These are the words of journalist Ricardo Ravelo – an expert in topics related to drug trafficking – who warns that we cannot see the rise of the Sinaloa Cartel in every state governed by Morena as a coincidence.
In an interview with Infobae Mexico, Ravelo remembers that “any politician, from any party, if they want to survive politically, they will inevitably have to link themselves to some criminal group, and this is happening all over the country. Politics and crime go hand in hand.”
To understand the journalist’s hypothesis, we must go back to the year 2018, before the victory of Andrés Manuel López Obrador as President sparked the wave of triumphs that now have Morena governing 22 states of the Republic.
“When Morena arrived to the presidency, it also achieved the victory of five governorships (Veracruz, Chiapas, Tabasco, Morelos and Mexico City); five years later, its domination grew to two thirds of the national territory, which in turn allowed the Sinaloa Cartel to advance in those states.”
The journalist and author of books such as “In the Hands of the Narco”, “The Capos” and “The Lord of Jalisco: A Government with a Criminal Structure”, remembers that there are complaints pointing to campaign financing for politicians of Morena by the Sinaloa Cartel in exchange for granting them territory to advance their wars against other criminal groups.
From former president Felipe Calderón’s “war against drugs”, we transitioned to the “institutionalization of drug-trafficking” during the six-year term of Enrique Peña Nieto; now with Andrés Manuel López Obrador, “the political class disappeared to make way for the criminal class”, says Ricardo Ravelo.
For the communicator, “it is the federal government itself that is assigning territories to Sinaloa. With political triumphs (from Morena), Sinaloa is gaining access to federative entities and extending its power.”
In the current context of Mexican politics, one of the most evident examples supporting Ricardo Ravelo’s words is the arrival of Rutilio Escandón (2018-2024) as Governor of Chiapas and the arrival of convoys from the Sinaloa Cartel to the state to dispute control of the border with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
Another example is Baja California, a state historically under the control of the Tijuana Cartel (Arellano Felix) and which at some point between 2015 and 2019 reached an agreement with the CJNG; but in recent years, the Sinaloa Cartel has managed to gain ground – even forming alliances with the Arellano Felix – which coincides with the rise to power of Marina del Pilar (2021-2027), who left the ranks of Morena.
Recently, federal authorities and those of the state of Nuevo Leon captured Jose Alberto Garcia Vilano, also known as “La Kena”, leader of the Ciclones-Escorpiones factions of the Gulf Cartel and main defender of the Tamaulipas territory against the attacks of the CJNG and the Sinaloa Cartel attempting to dominate the region. From October 2022 until September 2028, Tamaulipas will be governed by another politician from the Morena party, Américo Villarreal Anaya.
According to the DEA, in 2018 the Sinaloa Cartel had operations in 13 states of the Republic, at that time they considered the CJNG as the criminal organization with the greatest growth as it had presence in 22 entities; five years later, those commanded by “El Mencho” operate in 28 jurisdictions, while the factions of Los Chapitos and El Mayo Zambada operate in 24 states.
The expansion of the Sinaloa Cartel during the current federal administration is evident, and although this could be just a “coincidence”, Ricardo Ravelo maintains: “The current government is betting and taking important steps for it to be only one group that controls the entire country, leading to a kind of pacification”.
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Mica
Email: mica@cartelinsider.com
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